FAA warns of disruption

As the shutdown drags on, sick calls by controllers and other problems grounded flights at Burbank and strained towers at airports across U.S.

- BY JENNY JARVIE AND CLARA HARTER

ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times A JET soars in Burbank on Tuesday. The airport was back to normal after flights were disrupted a day earlier.

Flights resumed at Hollywood Burbank Airport on Tuesday after its air traffic control tower was temporarily unstaffed and dozens of flights were delayed or canceled a week into the federal government shutdown.

“Things are back to normal,” airport spokesperson Mike Christensen said Tuesday morning, noting that there were no lengthy delays to departures or arrivals.

On Monday, air traffic control staffing shortages caused delays at multiple airports across the country, including Newark Liberty International Airport, Denver International Airport and Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

But even as Burbank returned to normal operations, the Federal Aviation Administration warned of more disruption at airports due to staff shortages as a result of the government shutdown.

By Tuesday, the agency’s operations plan expanded the list of airports experiencing “staffing triggers.”

Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Nashville International Airport, it said, were experiencing staff shortages at their air traffic control towers. Houston's two major commercial airports — William P. Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental — were also expected to see ground stops.

Even during a government shutdown, air traffic controllers are required to work unpaid and do not obtain retroactive pay until it ends. Over the last few days, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA had seen a “slight tick-up” in staffers calling out sick.

AIR TRAFFIC control staffing shortages caused delays in Burbank on Monday.

(ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times)